Heritage Classic: Dakota Valley wins a classic
You’ve all heard the phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover” right? Not many guys wear running shoes on the court these days but Dakota Valley playmaker Robert Rosenquist does. And he wore those shoes and Rock Valley’s players…
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Continue ReadingYou’ve all heard the phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover” right? Not many guys wear running shoes on the court these days but Dakota Valley playmaker Robert Rosenquist does. And he wore those shoes and Rock Valley’s players out with his efforts.
The 5-foot-11 junior is part John Riggins running in the 70s (look it up kids, you tube) and part Jason Williams in flash creation (the Dakota high school version). His highlight assists beating the Rock Valley (Iowa) defense to the spot were memorable. As are the no-look creating to a teammate or the sharp one hand passes that were so hard that the bigger worry was a teammate dropping the ball (defense rotating to the play was out of the question, Robert made them out of position and the past was too fast to catch up to). It was all exciting to watch.
Amongst Robert’s game high 19 points was a corner trey where after the ball dropped through the net, Rosenquist flashed the three ball sign. That shot was clutch but not as clutch as his late game heroics which we will get into shortly. Rosenquist at one point actually thought he had fouled out so he walked to the bench in frustration only to find out his number was four, not five.
Had he fouled out the Panthers would still have had a chance. Six-foot-7 junior John Prochello had 15 points controlling the paint and out-playing 6-foot-10 Rock Valley sophomore center Jason Taylor. Sophomore guards Luke Schmitt and Jack McCabe were strong role contributors on both ends of the floor and junior Bennett Chesterman contributed a key role too at times playing bigger than his size shows.
With 16 seconds to go Rock Valley called a timeout hoping to get the ball in, get fouled, make some foul shots and go up four points (they were up 53-51). Robert Rosenquist had a different idea. The Rock Valley lead guard relaxed to survey his teammates and when he did Rosenquist faked one way and poked the ball away the other. From there Rosenquist gathered the valuable possession and tied the game with a lay-up.
Rock Valley had a possession to win the game but they seemed so shocked that their early double figure lead was no lost, they created nothing. Then, with about seven seconds to go, Dakota Valley senior lead guard Tyler Johnson received the in-bounds pass. Tyler is a senior and we haven’t mentioned him yet not because he had only one point, but more for his role in the win (and to build some drama to this story of course).
Johnson had done a great job of ignoring Rock Valley ball pressure all night and then creating offense his for his team. He was also the catalyst of one of the more disciplined team defensive efforts you will see and because of that they do a great job in full court pressure too.
With little time remaining Johnson received the ball, beat his man right, got about a foot inside the lane after splitting two defenders, and then dropped off for Prochello who made a lay-up while being fouled with one tenth of a second left on the clock. The bench and the crowd went crazy as Johnson had just created the game winner and Prochello put it away despite being hacked.
Dakota Valley came into the weekend undefeated and if they beat Wayne, Nebraska last night (no result is listed) they are undefeated at 9-0. The Panthers are definitely unbeaten in South Dakota proving their spot more and more every day and now they have a memorable finish to look back on.